the Haggadah is to make a clean separation between the original
elements and the later learned additions. Hardly a beginning has
been made in this direction. But as long as the task of
distinguishing them has not been accomplished, it is impossible
to write out the Biblical legends of the Jews without including
the supplemental work of scholars in the products of the popular
fancy.

In the present work, "The Legends of the Jews," I have made the
first attempt to gather from the original sources all Jewish
legends, in so far as they refer to Biblical personages and
events, and reproduce them with the greatest attainable
completeness and accuracy. I use the expression Jewish, rather
than Rabbinic, because the sources from which I have levied
contributions are not limited to the Rabbinic literature. As I
expect to take occasion elsewhere to enter into a description of
the sources in detail, the following data must suffice for the
present.

The works of the Talmudic Midrashic literature are of the first
importance. Covering the period from the second to the fourteenth
century, they contain the major part of the Jewish legendary
material. Akin to this in content if not always in form is that
derived from the Targumim, of which the oldest versions were
produced not earlier than the fourth century, and the most recent
not later than the tenth. The Midrashic literature has been
preserved only in fragmentary form. Many Haggadot not found in
our existing collections are quoted by the authors of the Middle
Ages. Accordingly, a not inconsiderable number of the legends
here printed are taken from medieval Bible commentators and